Cleaning a Vintage Rug: ORC Week Two

It’s week two of the One Room Challenge. This week, I promised you a plan for the lopsided living room. I keep my promises, but first, I want to tell you about our new (very old) rug. For the past six months, I have been stalking Facebook Marketplace for an oversized vintage rug. Long story short, I finally found a big one. However, once it was loaded in the car, I knew that I would be typing cleaning a vintage rug into the Google search bar immediately.

It smelled terrible, as if it had been sitting in a musty basement for years. I am told that it actually sat under a grand piano, and by the seller’s estimate, it was over sixty years old. I don’t know too much about vintage rugs, but I think it may be older than that.

Well, it turns out that information about cleaning a vintage rug as a DIY is a little slim. Almost everything I read was a cautionary tale. After an inquiry on Instagram, the most common answers I got were 1) put baking soda all over it and then vacuum it up in a couple of days, and 2) Have it professionally cleaned.

Despite the countless times I’ve poured baking soda on something and vacuumed it later, or made a sachet from it, or used it in the fridge to no avail, I still poured baking soda all over this rug. What’s wrong with me? All that did was make a big mess and fill up a vacuum cleaner bag. The entire time I was vacuuming, I was thinking about this hilarious stand-up comedy routine. Is there a baking soda conspiracy?

This rug was dirty. The only thing that would get rid of the smell was a thorough wash.

Cleaning a Vintage Rug DIY – Considering the Risk

Let me start this section with my own warning: Do not clean your vintage rugs without the understanding that it could go badly. If your rug is silk, send it to a professional. If you perform a test cleaning in one section, and the dyes begin to run and bleed, STOP and take it to a professional. I soldiered on because I had very little to lose, and I have experience with natural fibers. This rug was fairly inexpensive, and I had no emotional attachments to it. Trying to clean it as a DIY felt worth the risk.

A long, long time ago, I started a cloth diaper cover company. For one of my designs, I used soft, felted wool. Throughout the research and development phase, I abused wool fabric and fibers to make sure they could hold up to rigorous wash and wear. I tested shrinkage, felting (when the fibers shrink and twist tightly together), and dye bleed. I frequently tucked pieces of wool in the waistband of my pants to make sure the fabric was not itchy. My goal was to learn as much about wool as possible.

That research gave me a certain amount of confidence going into this. Harsh soap, heat, and scrubbing are the main culprits that ruin wool. As long as I stayed away from the big three, I felt safe moving forward.

The Process

I planned to start conservatively and escalate my efforts as needed. I laid the rug out on my driveway and saturated a small section with plain cold water to test for dye bleed. Fortunately, the fibers seemed color-fast.

Next, I sprayed the entire rug with cold water from the hose.

I filled a water bucket with diluted Woolite and spread the soap and water on the rug gently with a long-handled brush. Rigorous scrubbing can cause the fibers to shrink and felt.

Per an excellent suggestion on Instagram, I pulled as much water out of the rug with my shop vac.

The water that came out of it was disgusting. So gross. I am glad there is no photographic evidence.

Still Smelly

Unfortunately, the rug was still smelly and dirty, and the shop vac didn’t pull out as much water as I hoped. I had a soggy mess of a rug on my hands.

My last resort was paying a professional, but my second-to-last resort was renting a carpet cleaner. Since I was a little worried about the machine pulling out the fibers altogether, I took a quick pass on one of the sturdiest sections of the rug. Success! Using cold water and Woolite, I cleaned the entire rug, working gently on the damaged places. Then, I went over it again with the tank filled with plain water to ensure all the soap residue was gone.

Note: It is my understanding that there is a difference in durability between machine-knotted and hand-knotted. Test a small area first.

After all that work, the rug smelled like a wet dog, but that was good! Wet wool has an animal smell that dissipates once it is dry. Finally, I had destroyed the funk that was caused the stink.

It took a full five days in the sun to dry. Every other day I flipped it from back to front to prevent excessive fading. I also propped buckets under it to keep parts of it off the ground and facilitate faster drying. The sun helped freshen the fibers too. This rug measures 12′ X 16′ and probably weighs 120 lbs when it is dry! It wasn’t easy to maneuver wet.

As a final precaution, when it was dry, I sprayed it with a 1:1 solution of cheap vodka: water. That was another Instagram tip. The idea made sense to me since alcohol evaporates quickly.

I cannot be certain that the vodka/water mix did anything, but I am certain it did not hurt. It might have acted as a very mild sanitizer.

The fibers felt a little crunchy after all of this. However, once I vacuumed the entire rug thoroughly, they softened again.

The Room and the Plan

Last weekend, we wrestled the rug into place, and it’s a perfect size. It has some very worn spots, not due to the cleaning, but we can cover them with furniture.

Please excuse the fact that Andy is sitting in this picture. He’s still working in the lopsided living room.

Now, for the plan: Last week, I mentioned that I was aiming for a Gil Schafer-inspired room based on the book, A Place To Call Home (affiliate link). Well, here is the room that put the stars in my eyes.

When I showed it to Andy, he said, “All I see are antlers” Then, we proceeded to argue about what it means to be “inspired by” vs. “copying every detail.”

Andy: I don’t see it. Make me a mood board.

Me: This is the mood board.

Andy: Well, it certainly put me in a mood.

Welcome to 25 years of marriage, friends.

Next week, I’ll tell you more about how the plan translates to the lopsided living room.

For more inspiring projects and information about the One Room Challenge, please check out their website. It’s week two for the group of featured designers and the rest of the guest participants too.

Many thanks to Linda from Calling it Home for starting the ORC so many years ago and to Better Homes and Gardens for being the media partner.

Please subscribe here via the sidebar for all of my updates. You can also find me on YouTube, or in real-time, over on Instagram. Thank you so much for following along.

PS: Pin this post for later! There may be a smelly vintage rug in your future too.